National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

moo CAVE-TEMPLES & ANTIQUES OF

THE THOUSAND BUDDHAS [Ch. XXV

kneeling divinities, two of whom hold resp. clappers and wreath. Fourth spandrel blank.

Of two outer squares, inner blank. Outer shows in corners Four Kings with triple-pointed Vajra-head in extreme corner above each ; in T-shaped spaces in middle of each side (*Ch. 00190), demonic deity in contorted pose against background of flame, and accompanied by symbolic animal.

The Kings are placed as follows : In L. top corner, Vir504a of West, with flaming sword ; in R. top corner, Vaigravana (1) of North, with bow (1) ; in R. bottom corner, Virûdhaka of South, with club ; in L. bottom corner, Dhrtarâstra of East, with guitar. All are in armour, seated on flat-topped thrones, with one leg pendent, one half-bent.

Animals accompanying demons are resp. : above, tiger (rampant), on R. lion; below, elephant, on L. dragon.

Between demons and Kings are represented on each side two of Eight Glorious Emblems, each on lotus-standard orn. with streamers, and arranged as follows : above, fish and conch-shell ; on R., eight-pointed wheel and trident-head ; below, canopy (single and three-tiered) ; on L., flask and flaming jewel.

Good condition. 1' 5" x r' 4$'.

Ch. 00429. Four frs. of silk damask, brilliant red, highly glazed. Ground plain ; pattern of leaves and stems, in twill. Gr. M. 5".

Ch. 00430. a-b. Two frs. of silk damask, indigo, woven in two varieties of concentric lozenge diaper. Ground plain, pattern twill ; fine close weaving. Cf. Ch. 00333, 00499-00502. Gr. M. 4".

Ch. 00431. Two strips of silk (?) fabric, black, in

twill ; fine twisted warp, stiffened ; flat soft weft.   Gr.
length 10".

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Ch. 00432. Border of figured silk from headpiece of banner, torn, but with suspension loop of coarse red cotton twill attached. Woven with warp of fine stiffened red yarn, and flat untwisted weft as Ch. 0076. Weft double, indigo forming face of material, and light blue forming back. Pattern : a series of small circular spots arranged in rows and worked in yellow and red, second weft in these stripes being indigo. Much faded. Length of sides c. r r', width of band 2-".

Ch. 00433. Two strips of plain silk, thick, and soft ; rather loose weave ; natural-coloured. Gr. length I' 2'.

Ch. 00434. Four frs. of plain silk, pale greenish blue, thin, faded. Gr. M. r' 3'.

Ch. 00435. Fr. of plain silk, pale green, thin. r' 5" x r r'.

Ch. 00436. Four frs. of plain silk, blue, but of various textures and shades. One gathered on to bamboo strainer wound with silk yarn, and apparently part of banner. Gr. M. ro'.

Ch. 00437. Tab of silk gauze from valance streamer, thick, dark red, in twined weaving like that of Ch. 00332. See also Ch. 00444. Length 3f'.

Ch. 00438. Star•shaped flower of silk gauze, made of bands of the gauze, red, green, and white, with printed pattern, ingeniously looped and knotted. Points finished with silk tassels. Diam. c. 5".

Ch. 00439. Corner of silk square, double, possibly from votive patchwork as Ch. lv. 0028. Corner piece of deep yellow plain silk, with fragmentary design of long-tailed birds (1) and clusters of leaves and blossoms, outlined (stencilled 1) in black and with centres of red, black, or green. Rapid drawing. Below is fr. of printed silk, same as Ch. 00305. Both sewn on foundation of plain deep yellow silk. Much discoloured and torn. r' 5" x I' 6".

Ch. 00440. Square of silk damask, pale yellow, thin, loose weave ; pattern a small lozenge lattice-work. Well preserved. 1' 9" x 2' 5. '.

Ch. 00441. Strip of plain silk, indigo, from streamer of valance ; fine regular weave. 2' 6" x 6".

Ch. 00442. Seventeen miniature canopies in form of silk or linen squares, with silk tassels at corners and suspension loop in middle. When complete they were strained over a framework of two bent twigs, crossed diagonally, which gave the umbrella shape required, but one only retains this. The materials are- linen : terra-cotta (z), brown (1), yellow (r), natural buff (3); silk : yellow (2), one glazed, white or buff (z), green (2), grey (1), red (1) incomplete ; patchwork of buff and indigo silk with tag streamers, incomplete (1). The last, with twig framework, is made half of plain yellow silk, half of two frs. of sage-green silk damask with patterns on different scales of chevron lines connected at angles by elliptical spots. Ground piairi; pattern twill. 9i" sq. to 4-' sq.

Ch. 00443. a-c. Misc. silk frs. (a) Square, from patchwork, of thick purple gauze backed with light blue silk and yellow silk. Flying bird, apparently design for embroidery, outlined on it with running thread and gauze cut away within outline. 6" x 4k". (b) Tie for manuscript-roll cover made of two strips of fine silk gauze, green and gamboge, joined sideways, with tag of similar red gauze at end. Woven in open lozenge lattice-work. 1' 7". (c) Tassel of three strips of material, black damask and green silk resp., and fr. of figured silk of same weave and prob. like pattern to Ch. 009. Gr. length 21".

Ch. 00444. Fr. of silk gauze, dark plum-coloured, resembling Ch. 00332 in weave, but lighter. Gr. M. 6".

Ch. 00445. Frs. of silk gauze like preceding, but of lighter and more open texture. From banner streamers stamped with leaf designs. Some frs. show remains of stalks embroidered in green. Gr. length 3' 7 ".

Ch. 00446. Misc. frs. of silk embroidery, bird and flower design like Ch. 00281, of which it may be a part. Worked on dark green or indigo gauze backed with plain silk of same colours ; chief colours in embroidery pinkish buff, green, yellow, tomato-red, Chinese and pale blue. Gr. length 9".